Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) is a known type of high speed network. SAS networks are often used for connecting a host (usually a storage server which is itself connected to another type of network) to a plurality of attached hard drives. However, SAS networks may be used for other purposes as well.
A SAS network may use non-shared physical links for connecting devices. Thus, the network can dedicate a physical link to one connection and that physical link may not be used by other connections until the network reassigns the links. In order not to waste the available links, a SAS network usually does not keep a link assigned to a single connection for a long time but may often tear down the connection in order to reassign the link. This practice prevents one connection from blocking up resources for too long. However, this practice may add too much overhead to communications and may, for that reason, be counterproductive in some situations.